A memorial service for Walter Landor, whose pioneering designs gave birth to some of the advertising world's most famous logos and corporate icons - among them Coca-Cola, Bank of America, the cotton trademark, and even San Francisco's Muni - will be held Tuesday.

Mr. Landor, a native of Germany who visited San Francisco as a young artist and instantly decided to call it home, died Friday. He was 81.

"For me it was a city that looked out on the whole world, a city built on the cultural traditions of east and west," he mused in an interview a few years ago. "How could I live anywhere else?"

At Mr. Landor's bedside was his wife of 55 years, Josephine Martinelli Landor, his long-ago student at the California College of Arts and Crafts in Oakland.

"I think she probably got the best grade possible," said their daughter, Susan Landor Keegin, on Saturday. "She was definitely the teacher's pet."

Born in Munich, Mr. Landor journeyed to London to study art when he was 22. He came to the United States in 1939 to see the World's Fair in New York, then took a cross-country busman's holiday studying industrial design work before landing in San Francisco.

He would become known as the inspiration and driving force behind The City's stellar reputation in the international design arena.

Landor Associates, the company he launched in 1941 with the help of only his wife, grew to include a worldwide staff of 500 with billings in the tens of millions. The firm designed the familiar logos of such firms as Coca-Cola, General Electric, Shell Oil, British Airways, Dole, and General Motors' Saturn Corp.

Even after Mr. Landor's retirement in the late 1980s, the company continued to attract some of the world's biggest corporate clients, and in 1989 was purchased by the advertising firm Young and Rubicam.

The spirited Mr. Landor, who loved to bring together artists, performers and corporate tycoons, was well known for his floating headquarters of two decades, the Klamath, a converted 234-foot ferryboat docked at Pier 5.

"He felt it was an environment that would inspire creativity," Keegin said.

Mr. Landor suffered a stroke two years ago.

Last year, a permanent collection of his designs and packaging was completed at the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History.

Beside his wife, Josephine, and daughter Susan, Mr. Landor's survivors include another daughter, Lynn Landor, and four grandchildren.

The memorial will be held at the St. Francis Yacht Club on Tuesday at 4 p.m.&lt;